


Falling's Just Like Flying

by transfixme_quite



Series: Rich, You're A Terrible Actor [2]
Category: Cabin Pressure, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Cabinlock, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-14
Updated: 2012-08-14
Packaged: 2017-11-12 03:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/486340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transfixme_quite/pseuds/transfixme_quite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martin doesn't get drunk too often, but when he does, he dreams of places even GERTI can't take him. Richard doesn't much like it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Falling's Just Like Flying

It was Martin’s day off, and Richard had decided on a quiet evening in, with dinner, drinks and a movie. Martin insisted on _2001: A Space Odyssey_ , because it was the next step past being an airline pilot. Something more for him to fantasize about. Richard had made a lovely potato au gratin to go with his signature baked chicken, and Martin had never felt so posh.

It wasn’t long, however, until the red wine hit him, and he was running around the apartment with his arms outstretched, making wooshing sounds.

“I am an aeroplane! Woooooshhh, whirrrrrr, a big sexy 737… Do you like my wingspan, Richard? Wooooshhhh…” Martin ‘flew’ around the room, more blitzed than he’d ever been. “I can flyyyyy…”

“Yes, darling, you’re quite fetching.” Richard smiled as he sipped his wine and watched his partner’s descent into childhood.

“It’s all I’ve ever wanted, you know… I’m not meant to be grounded. To be in the air, floating, weightless… Oh, being in a space shuttle would be a dream, an absolute dream! Whirrrrrr….”

“Floating would be better than this life.” Richard muttered. Martin cast a glance at him, but brushed it off.

“Can you imagine?” Martin flopped onto Richard’s lap, draping an arm around him lazily. “Out there in the great beyond, no destination, just go where the wind takes you…” Martin stretched out his fingers in front of him, showing off the vast span of the universe he could see in his mind. “Though there’s no wind in outer space, I imagine…. But Mars! Venus! Even Pluto! Weaving in and out of the rings of Saturn, oh you’d own Saturn!! It’d all be ours, there’s nothing out there but us!”

“Yes, I would love to own the universe.” Richard rumbled, pressing his face into Martin’s neck and giving it a nip.

“Let’s go now!” Martin jumped off of Richard’s lap and ran to the kitchen. “I can take us there! Set course for Jupiter!” He crawled up onto the kitchen counter, his lack of height allowing him to still stand straight up easily. Once again, he outstretched his arms. “Let’s fly to the moon…” Martin closed his eyes and smiled.

“Get down!” Richard exclaimed, a quick panic overcoming him.

“I can fly… I can fly…” Martin whispered, his toes now dangling from the edge of the counter.

“You’re drunk. Get down, now!” Richard set down his glass and walked toward Martin.

“Don’t try and stop me… No one ever believes in me… I’m going into space and that’s final!” Martin’s voice quivered slightly, and he leaped from the counter, crashing almost immediately into Richard, sending them both to the ground. Martin rolled off of Richard hard, and his head bounced off the floor with a resounding ‘thunk’.

“Martin! Martin!” Richard sat up fast and moved to Martin, shaking his shoulders. After a moment, Martin opened his eyes.

“Oh, bloody hell, I’m still here…”

“What are you playing at?” Richard yelled, shoving Martin back into the floor angrily.

“I was flying. I was flying, Richard. In the air, I was, I could feel my body headed toward the skies, the stars. It was beautiful.”

Richard stared at Martin, not saying a word. He stood up and continued glaring.

“You’re back to work in one day, you can’t go in with a concussion. I need you to be able to fly.” Richard growled, and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Why, are you going somewhere?”

“As a matter of fact I am, so stop playing around with your life! You’re more integral than you know. The game depends on you.” Richard yelled, frightening Martin.

“Richard…”

“Stop calling me Richard!!”

Silence fell, and Martin sat straight up.

“And what am I meant to call you, then?” Martin asked, breaking the silence after several moments.

“Nothing. Just…”

“What ‘game’?”

“It’s an expression.”

“I’ve not heard that expression before.”

“Well you hardly get out much, do you?”

Richard could tell Martin was hurt by his last statement. He turned away in disgust, unable to bear looking at that face expressing emotions he knew he’d never see from Sherlock. Sometimes he liked hurting Martin; it felt like a preview of things to come, but other times it just left him feeling defeated, because it wasn’t the real thing.

“I just wanted to fly… And all I did was fall.”

Richard smirked, his back still turned on Martin. “Falling’s just like flying, Martin.” He turned around and looked at his boyfriend now, still sprawled out on the floor. He changed his countenance and gathered himself, putting on an air of sympathy. “There’s just a more permanent destination.” He brushed Martin’s tousled red hair out of his face, and leaned in for a kiss. Martin pulled away, and Richard just smiled. “Don’t hide from me, darling.”

“I don’t like it when you get…like that.” Martin said, his eyes welling up.

“Nor do I. Now, let’s finish watching the movie. No more aeroplanes, and definitely no more wine for you!” Richard said cheerily. He stood and held a hand out to Martin. Martin reluctantly took it and stood as well. “There we are, isn’t that better? Sit. Rest. I’ll get some asprin for your head. You’ll need it.” Martin sat, and Richard kissed his forehead, then exited the room.

“What am I meant to call you?” Martin said quietly, as he wrapped his arms around himself to stop his body from shaking.

**Author's Note:**

> Martin especially wants to go to Pluto, because he identifies with the former planet very, very much. Once a member of something grand and indescribable, now abandoned because it didn't meet certain standards, after eons of being led to believe it was good enough. Foreshadowing in the end notes? Certainly not! ;)


End file.
